To Be Free
by runraggedycas
Summary: Maybe Tony Stark has a heart, a soft side, but only she brings it out in him.


CHAPTER ONE

The young girl shoved the emergency door open, running out into the darkness. She made it a few meters before dropping to the ground, screaming in agony. Slamming her fist into the thick mud, the nine year old gasped for air, the weight of her loss crushing her chest, making it impossible for her to breathe. "No, no," she whispered shakily, "you promised. You...you swore!" The volume of her voice began to increase, raising to a yell."You promised! You promised not to leave me!"

The girls once white dress was soaked with mud, the thin material hardly shielding her from the rain that hammered down onto her like tiny daggers.

"Excuse me? Miss?" Looking up, her golden hazel eyes met his warm brown ones. "I don't think you should be out here alone at a time like this..." he began, slowly stepping closer. "You might catch something."

"Do I know you?" She asked, eyes narrowed in recognition. "You look familiar." Her blonde hair stuck to her pale face, both dirtied with mud. She couldn't quite place it. Had he known her brother? She didn't think so.

"I don't think so." He crouched down beside her. "My name is Tony. What's yours?"

Warily, she introduced herself as Marina Jackson. When he asked what she was doing alone in the dark, it all rushed back to her. Her chest felt tight again and she looked down at the ground as tears slid down her cheeks, leaving pale lines. "He...he left me. He told me he would never leave me like they did, that he'd be careful but he lied! He's gone and I have nobody!" Tony shrugged off his jacket, placed it around her shoulders and knelt in the mud, embracing the small girl in his warm arms as she screamed and cried.

They sat there for hours until Marina eventually fell asleep in the arms of the kind stranger with the familiar face.

**SEVEN YEARS LATER**

"Marina? Are sure you aren't hungry?" Pepper asked through the wooden door of the teens room. She hadn't come out in days and the older woman was beginning to worry. "Honey?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it Pep. I don't feel well." Pepper sighed. She was expecting to hear that. Every time she knocked, Marina said the exact same thing, word for word.

"Maybe we should take you to a doctor," She suggested, only to receive a cold silence from the other side. Sighing again, she turned around, "Well...if you want me, I'll be here somewhere," she said before walking away. Once she was far enough that her words would go unheard by the girl, she said, "JARVIS, call Tony."

Marina hated hurting Pepper, but she had to. She didn't deserve anything, not Pepper, not Steve, not Natasha and especially not Tony. She was worthless and they were worth everything. The sixteen year old didn't belong, she didn't deserve their love and care. She was just a burden to them all. "Miss, are you alright?" The voice of JARVIS called. Marina nodded, wiping her eyes quickly, although she knew JARVIS couldn't see her, only hear her. Tony hadn't installed cameras in bedroom and bathrooms when building the Avengers tower, for the comfort of those living there.

"I'm fine, it's okay."

JARVIS responded almost immediately, "Shall I call Steve?"

"No, it's okay. I just want to be alone," she mumbled, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Resting her head on top of her knees, the young blonde wondered how much of a difference it would make to people's lives if she wasn't in them. _Not much, _a small part of her brain told her. She was certain that Tony would be glad. He had been tied down by her for seven years too long, and by now he probably wanted to kill her himself. "What does someone like me have to offer anybody?" she whispered.

Guilt bubbled up inside her as she thought about all the things that she had ruined for him, for everybody. She began to cry again, falling onto her side and clutching her pillow, burying her face into it to muffle her cries.

Maybe that's why her brother did it. Maybe he killed himself because she brought him down, ruined everything. It was _her _fault. Maybe...maybe she should just follow in his footsteps.

Sitting up and swinging her legs off the side of her bed, Marina stepped over to the small desk on the other side of the room. The blonde girl pulled open a drawer, searching through it until she found the small black bag she had been looking for.

Inside of the small bag was her best kept secret, something she and only she knew. Inside of the bag was her method of self destruction, or methods. A regular sized maroon lighter and a sharp silver blade, a spare that she had stolen from Tony's bathroom. She tipped them into her hand and winced slightly at the dried blood that stained the edge of the blade, gone amiss when she had cleaned it last.

Reaching back into the drawer, she pulled out disinfectant wipes and cleaned the metal thoroughly before returning to her bed, the items still in hand. Placing the blade to the tender, scarred skin of her left forearm, she whispered an apology at the air before pressing down and sliding it across, breathing in a sharp intake of breath as the skin broke and blood beaded at the surface. Repeating the motion, Marina closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly, allowing the blood to roll down her arm and into her lap.

The sixteen year old dragged the blade across her arm again, applying more pressure, sinking it deeper into the flesh of her arm. A part of her regretted ever making the first cut, another thanked her for it, begged her for more. She decided to comply, stopping when there were ten new wounds on her arm, each bleeding freely-and quite profusely.

Mumbling a curse under her breath, she reached for the first aid kit kept beside her bed, lifting it onto her large, kind sized bed and fumbling with the zip, grasping some cotton buds in her hand. Marina frantically wiped at the blood, only managing to smear it around more. "Oh, god." Quickly giving up on wiping the blood, Marina switched methods, instead wrapping it in layers of bandages.

She placed the blade and lighter under her pillow, pushing everything else off her bed and lying back down, pulling the blankets tightly around herself. The room had begun to spin as Marina squeezed her eyes shut, wishing it would stop. "Oh, god," she repeated, rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. "JAR..." She stopped, another wave of dizziness rushing over her. "JARVIS..."

Lights out.


End file.
